Gurgaon: A 33-year-old former private airline pilot was arrested with 814 grams of MDMA, a synthetic narcotic valued at around Rs 35 lakh in the illegal market, during a Crime Branch operation near Sector 103 on Tuesday.The accused, Arshad Ali, alias Ajju, was a resident of Landmark Society in Daulatabad and was arrested by the Sector 39 crime branch following a tip-off, police said, following which the recovered contraband was seized. An FIR was registered at Rajendra Park police station under relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.During interrogation, Arshad admitted that he initially purchased MDMA for personal consumption before entering the drug trade to earn money, police said. He also disclosed that he procured the seized contraband from an associate in Noida for Rs 5 lakh and the remaining payment was to be made after the drugs were sold, with the amount depending on the sale proceeds.Police suspect that Arshad was part of a wider narcotics supply network operating across NCR and are trying to identify his suppliers as well as potential buyers.Arshad will be produced before a local court, where police will seek his custodial remand to trace the supply chain, identify other persons involved in the racket and get additional evidence. Police said the investigation is continuing, and further arrests are likely as they probe the alleged network behind the seizure.
